Roundtop Farm – the Minshall Family Farmstead

If you saw my post back in August 2013 about Touring the historic buildings, you might remember the end of the post (reproduced here):

We joked that we may meet again investigating Roundtop Farm in Ridley Creek State Park, which we learned was the original Minshall family farmstead (until I make it there, I’ll have to enjoy exploring the images in flickr)!  I also found a 1993 Masters Thesis from the University of Pennsylvania titled “Preservation in Ridley Creek State Park : documentation of the historic farmsteads.”  The thesis is available online as a free download and has more information on the Roundtop Farm home of the Minshalls, especially the case study section that starts on page 89 of the thesis (p. 193 of the PDF file).

I went searching for the Roundtop Farmstead not long after I took the Tyler Historic Building Tour – and I walked right by the building twice before I was able to find it!  Although the ruins are only approx. 20 feet off the hiking trail, it was the thick vegetation that blocked the view.  But now, in the winter months with all of the “green” missing from the trees and low plants, I had no problem finding the building – at least, what is left of it.  (At the end of this post, you can find my directions on how to find Roundtop for yourself!)

Roundtop Farm became part of Ridley Creek State Park in 1978 in a property exchange between Tyler Arboretum and RCSP.

According to the thesis by Jeffrey Barr, the original portion of the house is believed to have been constructed in 1711 by Jacob Minshall (the second owner of the Tyler property).  Jacob’s son, John Minshall, inherited the property in 1734 and is believed to have built the additions on to the barn.  Unfortunately, it is only the house and ruins of the barn that are left standing, but Barr’s thesis has some impressive detail from his research on the chain of title of architectural records to speak about the layout of the structure and additions over the years.  I strongly encourage you to check out the link above and read for yourself!

And you can click here to view a slideshow of my images!

To find Roundtop, you can travel one of two pathways: (1) Start on the Painter Trail (formerly called the Red Trail) in Tyler Arboretum, take the turn in the trail that crosses in to Ridley Creek State Park, keep walking and Roundtop will appear on your left; (2) Park at the Sycamore Mills/Barren Road entrance at Ridley Creek State Park, and follow this map I created in Google (no log-in necessary) to find the house.

MOST IMPORTANTLY… when you reach Roundtop, do NOT enter the ruins.  Be incredibly careful and respectful of this historic structure, and keep your distance (just use the “zoom” on your camera like I did to snap some incredible photos!).

PLEASE ALSO NOTE… I made my trip to Roundtop and took these photos in mid-January, before the recent flurry of flurries we have been receiving.  I don’t know how many trees are down and how much damage Roundtop has sustained from the recent ice storms – please be safe and wait until the snow clears and you can journey on the trails once again.

Touring the historic buildings

Today, I continued my Natural Studies at Tyler Arboretum by attending a free Historic Building Tour, starting at Lachford Hall (that’s me in front of Lachford Hall, to the left).  I have walked by these buildings many times on my way to the trails and the pond, but it was the description in my summer issue of Tyler Topics piqued my interest:

Tyler’s historic Lachford Hall and Painter Library are open to the public for tours. Learn about the daily lives of the eight generations of the Quaker family who owned what is now Tyler Arboretum. Begun in 1738, Lachford represents over two centuries of residence by the Minshall-Painter-Tyler family. See the fascinating collection of 19th century scientific equipment and books assembled by the Painter brothers, and tour the beautiful library they built in 1863.

The tour lasted a little over a half hour, but it was saturated with information and fascinating sites I had never seen at Tyler before.  Fortunately, Tyler’s website has a nice, detailed history of Tyler Arboretum, going back to 1681 when English Quaker Thomas Minshall purchased the property from William Penn (and not to jump too far ahead in the story, but a chair that Thomas Minshall brought over from England is on display in Lachford Hall! (pictured to the right)).  I was impressed with the furniture from the Minshall/Painter family that was housed in Lachford and on display, items ranging from a locked spice cabinet to a school chest, to children’s shoes to a rolling pin!  I can’t post all of the photos I took inside, but you can see some of these items at my flickr page and by visiting Lachford yourself.

But the tour did not end there!  One building I had never stepped foot in prior to today is the Library.  Walking in to that building was like taking a walk back in time.  As a geologist, I was fascinated to see that science was a hobby for brothers Minshall Painter and Jacob Painter.  I was able to see some of their collections that included minerals, bird specimens, a camera, printing press, and lots and lots of books!  It brought a smile to my face to see that Painters valued their book collection so much that they built a book vault on each floor, with double metal doors, to fireproof their collection (I had an even bigger smile on my face to see that their book collection included books on geology!).  I left the Library and ended the tour with a sense of wonder – what else is hiding in these closets and rooms of Tyler’s historic structures?

Ron was the tour guide for myself and another Tyler visitor, Pepper.  Pepper is also a Tyler member and told me she tries to visit Tyler once a month and see something different each time she visits.  It was so much fun to meet Pepper and share with her the excitement of learning about Tyler’s history and seeing the fascinating collection of historic artifacts.  We joked that we may meet again investigating Roundtop Farm in Ridley Creek State Park, which we learned was the original Minshall family farmstead (until I make it there, I’ll have to enjoy exploring the images in flickr)!  I also found a 1993 Masters Thesis from the University of Pennsylvania titled “Preservation in Ridley Creek State Park : documentation of the historic farmsteads.”  The thesis is available online as a free download and has more information on the Roundtop Farm home of the Minshalls, especially the case study section that starts on page 89 of the thesis (p. 193 of the PDF file).

So much history – so much more to learn!